Saturday is Kirby Day over at Kevin Church’s BeaucoupKevin blog. Check out the first two entries and go back every week for more.
–Link– Kirby Saturdays
Posted in Links.
Monthly Archives: April 2006
Open Thread – Most anticipated book
Posted in Open Thread.
To keep this weblog a bit less Bob-centric, feel free to comment on any aspect of Kirby you like in this thread.
Suggested topic, quite a few upcoming books featuring Kirby are scheduled for this spring and summer. Which are you most looking forward to?
Nick Fury and His Agents of SHIELD #3 [1973]
Two STRANGE TALES reprints from 1966 in this issue, the SHIELD stories from #150 and #151. First up is “Hydra Lives”, with John Buscema making his return to Marvel, penciling over Kirby layouts, inking by Frank Giacoia. Unfortunately two pages are edited out, making for some weird jumps and unexplained bits. It’s not too bad looking, though parts of it don’t look like Buscema followed Kirby’s layouts at all (though some things, like the Overkill Horn, seem like pure Kirby). Anyway, the story has Fury testing out a prototype of the “Overkill Horn”, a deadly sonic weapon that can potentially detonate atomic devices at a distance. The test is explosive, putting both Fury and Dugan in wheelchairs (but not out of action) for a short while. Nick then gets an invite to a party in the dead Egyptian city of Karnopolis by Don Caballero, who SHIELD suspects of being the new Supreme Hydra (“cut off a limb and two more shall take its place!”). Nick heads off, leaving Jasper Sitwell in charge.
Next story is “Overkill”, this time with Jim Steranko making his Marvel debut over Kirby layouts (and my copy seems to be signed by Steranko on the splash page. Or signed by someone, and Steranko is the only name in the credits I can twist this squiggle into. Well, maybe Irving Forbush). It’s really sharp looking, with a lot of nice dynamic bits and detailed settings. It’s kind of shame that Steranko was “graduated” to full art so quickly, as I’d have liked to see what full Kirby pencils inked by him would have looked like. Anyway, for some reason they decide to quickly abandon the “party” pretext (which probably would have made a good James Bond kind of scene, but I guess with only 12 pages an issue there was pressure to keep to action scenes) and Fury just arrives in Karnopolis and is attacked by walking statues and Hydra agents (Hail Hydra!).
He’s able to escape on an unguarded plane, not realizing that he was allowed to escape, and the plane carries the Overkill Horn. I’m not sure I like how easily Fury was duped. Still, it all looks very good.
The cover is the Kirby/Steranko cover of ST #151.
Rawhide Kid #86 [1971]
Three Kirby/Ayers reprints in this issue, all from RAWHIDE KID #17 (1960), the first issue of the revival of the series with a new lead (although they seem to have changed the order of the stories). The 7-page “Beware! The Rawhide Kid” tells the story of how the Johnny Bart was trained in gunplay and morals by his “Uncle” Ben, then taking revenge on two cowardly gunslingers who ambushed Ben in a shoot-out. The 5-page “When the Rawhide Kid Turned Outlaw” follows up on that, as the Kid investigates a cattle rustling, only to have the sheriff see part of a shooting, leading to the Kid running off rather than facing justice. Which doesn’t seem like what Uncle Ben would have wanted.
The third story, which was originally between those two, so actually occurred before the Kid was an outlaw, is the 6-page “Stagecoach to Shotgun Gap”. The splash page is a gorgeously detailed Kirby/Ayers piece of the Kid riding up behind a stagecoach. Turns out he was just trying to hitch a ride, and in the wild west bullets were used instead of thumbs.
The other passengers are an old lady who makes it clear she’s carrying her life savings and a boy and his father, who are also carrying around a lot of money to pay for an operation. They’re suspicious of the Kid, until real outlaws ambush the stage and the Kid has to save them with his guns and his fists.
The last page of this seems to be edited in order to include a statement of ownership (207,000 average paid circulation), so there are probably a few panels missing, which might explain why the ending seems so abrupt (and some of the art seems to be not too expertly touched up). Still some very nice bits in the story, especially the horses and backgrounds.
–Link– MOCA comics exhibit in Milwaukee
Posted in Links.
If you live around or plan to be in Milwaukee this summer, the Milwaukee Art Museum is hosting the first tour stop of the MOCA Masters of American Comics exhibition from April 29 to August 13 at the Baker/Rowland Exhibition Galleries. Kirby is one of fifteen featured artists, and if it’s the same as the Los Angeles show covered in the latest KIRBY COLLECTOR you’ll get a chance to see about 50 pages of Kirby artwork covering several decades of his career, and a lot more. The Yale University Press book that serves as the catalogue of the exhibit is also available. The show then moves to the New York / New Jersey area in the fall.
http://www.mam.org/exhibitions/exhibition_details.aspx?ID=66
Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #3 [1982]
“Encounters of a Savage Kind” is the story this issue, continuing the Earth adventures of Captain Victory with new material after the first two issues had the originally proposed graphic novel (one page in this issue is also from the original graphic novel). Cap calls in the infantry to clean up the Insecton infestation, and the cosmic anomaly Egghead tags along, against orders.
Lucky for them that he does, since the Lightning Lady unleashes the biggest Insecton yet, specially bred for destruction, and Egghead is able to handily defeat it, and then is instrumental in the capture of the Lightning Lady when she tries to use some human kids as hostages. Really, he should be in charge, based on this issue.
Mike Thibodeaux takes over the inking on this issue, handling the cover, 25-page story and backcover (though I’m thinking Royer might have done the second page, or maybe it just looks different because it was produced well before the rest?).
Published 1982
2001 – A Space Odyssey #9 [1977] – Mister Machine
The origin of Aaron Stack, aka X-51, now Mister Machine, eventually Machine Man, continues in this issue, as he’s imprisoned by the army, with his face removed. He uses his skills, including being able to impersonate voices, to escape his cell, and make short work of any forces sent against him, until Doctor Broadhurst orders he be given back his face and released (but not without a secret tracking device).
Out in the woods, X-51 encounters the Monolith for a second time, and then meets a young boy, who compares him to the Marvel super-heroes, and the boy’s Aunt Olivia, who give him a ride to the nearest town, but not before they get attacked by the forces of the mysterious “Mister Hotline”, who has heard that one of the X-models escaped destruction.
Lot’s of weird later period Kirby concepts and very in-your-face artwork in this run of issues. The Monolith/2001 bits are pretty superflous to the bigger picture, kind of a shame their presence means we may never see reprints of these issues.
Mike Royer inks the cover and 17-page story.
Published 1977
–Link– Kirby nominated for Eisner Award
Posted in Links.
Jack Kirby is nominated for a 2006 Eisner Award, for the FANTASTIC FOUR OMNIBUS reprint.
Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
* Absolute Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (DC)
* Buddha, vols. 5-8, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
* The Contract with God Trilogy, by Will Eisner (Norton)
* DC Comics Rarities Archives, vol. 1 (DC)
* Fantastic Four Omnibus, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (Marvel)
Open Thread
Posted in Open Thread.
Thought it would be good to keep one thread open at all times for people to make general comments on Kirby and on the weblog, tips on Kirby links and news. After there are enough comments I’ll close this one and open a new thread. Suggested themes for this one:
The format of the weblog. Does it look okay on your browser? Is there anything you’d like to see?
What’s your favourite Kirby website (other than kirbymuseum.org)?
Feel free to plug your own website/blog, Kirby themed or not.
The Demon #3 [1972] – Reincarnators
Returning home from his adventure where he found out about his link to the Demon, Jason Blood is plagued by nightmares of his connection to Etrigan. He has little time to relax, as the Cult of Master Eye is using spells to kill the members of a UN taskforce investigating the supernatural, including Jason’s friend Randu Singh.
Their spells involve switching people with identities from their past life to use them as untraceable assassins. Unfortunately for them, Randu is able to transform Jason to Etrigan in time, and he goes to the cult’s headquarters, cleaning house and reducing their leader to a lower life form.
I’ve mentioned before that I kind of wish on the early DEMON issues that Kirby had stayed with the Merlin/Morgaine storyline rather than move quickly to villain of the month. That’s the case here, although the visuals in here, including the monster in Jason’s dreams and the cult symbols (I wonder if that was something that Kirby had planned for SPIRIT WORLD and used here when that mag didn’t continue).
Mike Royer inks the 22-page story and cover.
Published 1972